Job 7:5-6

5 'My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt; My skin hardens and runs. 6 'My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And come to an end without hope. NASB

I am going to bet that none of you have ever been down with a disease, such that you were covered with worm-infested oozing sores that had a putrid odor, combined with broken skin scabs that were crusty like large dirt clods.

A rather sickening description, isn't it?

Job was not exactly in a condition where you would want to run up and give him a big hug and kiss.

I suppose if you were a third-world back-woods traveler or worked in the medical field, then you may have seen many kinds of sickening conditions. But, Job's noisome condition has to be one for the record books.

Job is depressed. He can't eat. He can't sleep. He is hurting and nauseated by his own existence.

He does not see too many more days remaining in his life. His hopes, of recovering his health much less his wealth, have dwindled to virtually nothing.

And when you are in despair, wishes and hope are all that you have, and even that can be difficult to cling to.

But note one obvious thing here. Job is the one hurting. His friends are not suffering. Job can learn by his own actual experience and his friends have the opportunity to learn from Job's experience.

Most of us learn only from our personal experiences. We are hard headed enough to wait until we are hurting before we learn our life's lessons. Some folks can look to others and learn. So they avoid some of the more memorable pains of life that are common to humanity.

Remember in yesterday's study, that Job had decided that his life was committed to one of emptiness. And of course we know that he will recover, because we have read to the end of the book already. So Jobs current assumptions about his life, are wrong. He will not only regain his health, but he will become wealthy again, and more so, and he will have another family with lots of children.

But in the heat of misery, explaining that to someone will usually meet with deaf ears.

In this life, not everyone will experience a story like Jobs. Some will recover from their problems, and some will not. God has a unique plan for each one of us. But rest assured, in the long run, God will bring you full circle from into this life, to out of this life, to eternity and beyond. The last phase of our existence, eternity, will be the best of course.

Jesus Christ controls history. God works His plan without regard to human means. He can lift you up to the greatest of heights, or cast you down to the deepest of pits, while managing every single beat of your heart with perfect control.

What you need in order to take this ride comfortably through life, is faith. And faith comes only from a daily study of the Word of God. There is no other source for developing faith.

As with a weavers shuttle, ones life can shift right and then back to the left. Your life and emotions, your prosperity and misery, can change just as quickly. But with every change, with every day as it passes by in your life, there is a thread, a single thread that is common throughout your life.

That thread is the sum total of your decisions in life, and it establishes just who and what you really are.

Make your thread, the thread that ties your life together, be Bible doctrine, carrying the spiritual power of faith. Your spiritual life is what you will be able to take with you into eternity.

Choose any other thread, and sooner or later, you will see your life snap off right before your eyes.

Gal. 6:8

8 For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. NASB

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